Astro Boy Oneshot Series
by CaptainJSparrow23610
Summary: Another oneshot series focusing on Astro and all of his friends, along with some enemies! Chapter 6: "Control" trailer - robots all over Metro City start to go evil... their eyes turn red and they start attacking anything and everything that moves. Then Astro's affected. Story requests are welcome, and so is criticism, Rated T cuz I'm basically insane but nothing serious.
1. How To Wake Astro

Another Oneshot Series, I'm sooo happy XD

So my original story, inspired my Chell101, was commented on by a guest, and this guest apparently is not a fan of the Astro x Cora ship, so I remade the story, this time without the pairing, enjoy!

* * *

After the Peacekeeper Incident, Cora, Zane, Widget, and Sludge had decided to be with their friend and go to Astro's school with him. Widget and Sludge are in Grade 5, and Cora, Zane, and Astro are in Grade 9. Ever since then it's been nothing but fun.

One fine day, Cora, Astro, Zane, and the twins were waiting in the school grounds for the bell to ring. They heard a tired, "Hey, guys," From somewhere. They turned to face the speaker, which happened to be Astro walking towards his friends.

"What happened to you?" Zane asked, making space for Astro between the twins and him on the picnic table they were sitting at.

"I was out trying to track down a lost kid until late at night, maybe 11? Then I had to finish my English essay, the one due today. I was up until two at night!" Astro held up two fingers in front of Zane's face to emphasize his point.

"If you wake up at seven every morning... umm 6 hours of sleep. That's good right?"

"5 hours, Zane." Cora said from the side, "How you ace math is a mystery." The twins laughed.

"Nope." Astro replied. "I got an alert at 5 in the morning that there was some fire I had to help out with."

"So... 3?" Zane said. Cora and the twins clapped. Zane looked at them in confusion.

"What?" Zane asked.

"You did it right." Widget replied.

"Congratulations." Sludge commented.

They all laughed at that.

"So, 3 hours of sleep and I need a rest sometimes, even though I'm not even human." Astro said.

"Good luck getting through the day." Cora said, then she faced Zane, "So what did you write about in your essay? Or did you not finish it?"

"I finished it." Zane said proudly.

"Whoa, that's two amazing things in one day!" Widget said.

"Hey, I was going to say that!" Sludge argued. The twins started a fight with each other, but Cora and Zane ignored them.

"Are you sure you didn't cheat?" Cora asked.

"No." Zane replied a bit too fast. Cora stared at him long and hard... until "Fine! Yes I did, I said stuff and the computer spelled it for me." Zane burst out. Cora looked satisfied. From the side, the twins had stopped fighting and instead were glaring daggers at each other.

"I actually did write." Cora said while Zane looked completely defeated.

Then, all of a sudden a very soft snore was heard, and it would have been completely missed if the twins were still making noise. Everyone froze and looked in Astro's direction. He was sound asleep, his head resting on the table.

"Astro?" Widget asked. All she got in reply was another snore. Sludge reached over and poked Astro's forehead. Nothing.

"So you didn't get through the day." Zane commented.

"Didn't even start and you're asleep." Cora added

"Don't worry, he's pulled many all – nighters before, and I know exactly how to wake him up" Zane said smugly. The other three watched.

Zane thought for a second, took a deep breath, got close to Astro's ear and yelled, "ASTRO! THE SCHOOL'S ON FIRE!"

Zane was surprised, however, when a few onlookers started watching as Astro said, "Not my problem, call the police or the fire department." With his eyes still closed and went back to sleeping shortly later. Cora, Widget, and Sludge were watching in amusement.

"Fine! If that's how it is..." Zane took a deep breath and hollered, "ASTRO! YOUR ESSAY'S GONE!" Right into his robotic friend's ear.

"No it's not." Astro said with his eyes still closed.

"Yeah it is." Zane shot back.

A snore was his reply, and the onlookers laughed.

Zane cupped his hands around his mouth, took a huge breath, and yelled as loud as he possibly could into Astro's ear, "ASTRO! A HUGE ROBOT HAS THE TWINS CAPTIVE!"

The twins looked at each other and nearly burst out laughing, it was all they could do to keep it in.

"They're strong kids, they'll survive until the police come, assuming you called them like I asked you to." The twins couldn't hold it in. They fell over their chairs in laughter, and Cora nearly did too. Zane's face turned red in embarrassment.

Once the laughter died down, Sludge got off the ground and cracked his knuckles and said, "Watch how the pro does it."

Sludge took a seat directly next to Astro and casually said, "Hey, Astro, Physics class started 15 minutes ago."

The effect was instantaneous. Astro's head snapped up as he yelled, "WHAT?!" Unfortunately he had also ignited his rocket boots by accident, sending him into a midair backflip and he landed on his face in the grass. Basically everyone was laughing by now, and Sludge gave a "That's how it's done" look to Zane, and Zane's jaw nearly hit the ground in shock.

The four watched Astro get up off the ground with some help from his rockets, and walk to his friends.

"Well, at least you're awake now." Widget said.

"Yeah, I'm not going to forgive you for that soon." Astro said, pointing at Sludge. The crowd of onlookers dissipated as Cora told Astro, "Take a break today. I'll take care of getting your homework to you, since Zane here is too pissed because he overestimated himself."

"Are you sure? We have Physics today..." Astro trailed off.

"You don't, Astro, we were messing with you." Widget said.

"Okay then... I'll be at home, see all of you tomorrow." Astro said, and after a wave goodbye he shot up into the sky to go home.

As Astro's friends watched him go, and when he was out of sight, Zane said, "Wait, today's a Thursday, we do have Physics today."

"Yeah, I know," Widget said, "He had to go home to rest. Wasn't going to last an hour in that state. I was doing him a favor, actually."

The bell rang and the four friends went inside for class.

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I think it turned out funnier than the previous one, which I'm going to add here for everyone's convenience later, but it's available on my account for those who have time in their busy day to take a glance at another one of my awful stories ;D (jk... i think) Until next time.


	2. How to Wake Astro Original Version

Okay... so this was the first ever fanfic I ever wrote and posted on this site, and there are some people who have read it already, no need to read it again, cuz there's no point. If you have not read this chapter, read it if you want to. If you've already read it, don't bother.

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It was a school day, and Cora, Astro, Zane, Widget, and Sludge were waiting on a picnic table under a tree for the bell to ring.

As Cora and Zane talked, they heard a soft "thud". Both Cora and Zane looked towards where the sound had come from. Astro was seated on the picnic table listening to the argument, at least that's how it was a second ago. Now he sat with his head rested on the table.

"Astro!" Cora exclaimed, but when she heard the snoring, she sighed. "I'll go get Mr. Mustachio!" Widget and Sludge both said simultaneously, and argued on the way into school.

"Astro? Wake up, Astro..." Cora said softly, while shaking his shoulder gently. Zane scoffed. "that's not how you wake him up!" He said, then Zane cracked his knuckles. "Let me show you how a professional does it!" He said. Zane leaned really close to Astro's ear.

"ASTRO! THE SCHOOL'S ON FIRE!" Zane bellowed at the top of his lungs. Astro didn't flinch. In fact, he murmured, "Not my problem, call the firefighters." Cora tried to contain her giggles as Astro went back to sleep and snoring could be heard once again, and some onlookers gathered to see the commotion. "Fine!" Zane said. Then he had another idea.

"ASTRO! WIDGET AND SLUDGE ARE TRAPPED IN THE BUILDING! YOU GOTTA HELP THEM!" Zane yelled, again close to Astro's ear. Astro, however, didn't flinch just like last time, but this time he said,

"They are strong kids, they can survive until the firefighters come, assuming you called them like I asked you to." Cora found it harder to contain her giggles this time, and more people gathered, laughing. Astro smiled and tried to fall asleep again, but... "Okay, that's it!" Zane said, embarrassed and frustrated with his robotic friend.

"ASTRO! THERE IS A HUGE ROGUE ROBOT ATTACKING THE SCHOOL! YOU HAVE GOTTA HELP!" Zane yelled as loud as he possibly could this time. By now, Widget and Sludge had arrived with Mr. Mustachio, and were watching the show. "Since you sound so sure of yourself, I'll let you handle that, Mr. Professional." Astro said, then going back to sleep once more. Everybody watching laughed hard and out loud this time, even Cora. Zane on the other hand, was practically fuming with rage.

Widget popped up and said, "Let me have a go." "Be my guest!" Zane replied, still mad. The laughter had died down now, and everyone in the schoolyard was watching to see what was going to happen next.

"ASTRO! CORA'S IN DANGER!" Widget yelled into Astro's ear. The effect was instantaneous. "WHAT?!" Astro yelled as his head jerked up at lightning speed, but he had accidentally ignited his rocket boots, sending him flying backwards into the air, causing him to do a back flip and land face first into the grass. Everyone in the schoolyard cracked up and started laughing so hard some of them fell over. Meanwhile, Zane's mouth hung open in a dumbfounded O. Astro picked himself up and sat crisscrossed in the grass. He rubbed his forehead.

"What was that for?" Astro complained.

* * *

So that was the original How to Wake Astro... yeah i know it's weird.. that's cuz it's OOOOLD


	3. Astro Protects His Sister

Two chapters in one day! WHOA! Oh wait... the one beofore this wasn't an actual chapter since it's not recent... ah well think what you want. I know there is one person expecting a fanfic from me, and I'm sorry but this is not it, PancakeStudios... yours might be the next one... cuz everytime I tried writing your story I ended up mixing it up with this one cuz this idea won't leave my brain ALONE! im sorry. okay if you want to, read this, but I assure you it's a complete waste of your time.

BTW this story is heavily based on 4Years by Chell 101... I just love the idea of Astro growing up and getting a real sister! k im going crazy plz continue reading.

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As the years passed from the peacekeeper incident, Astro was accepted into the family for good this time. Dr. Tenma and a woman at the Ministry fell for each other and got married, having a child and naming her Zoran. Astro now has a younger sister, who's fourteen years younger than him. Five years passed and now Astro's 18 and Zoran's four. Zoran idolizes Astro, and it's no wonder as he's a hero and splits his time between school, saving the city, and helping restore the surface to how it was before, a part time volunteer job. Astro had gotten an upgrade where he was connected to the police's emergency number. If an emergency call came to the police station, Astro would be able to overhear the entire conversation, and come to the scene if he thought he would be of help. The police could contact him directly if they wanted too. Zoran wants to be just like her brother, but doesn't realize the disadvantages and dangers of being the most powerful robot ever created. This story explores that.

Astro, the most powerful robot in all of Metro City, the hero who reaches the scene hardly 10 seconds after the call, who can take care of anyone and anything that decides to harm Metro City, his home, in any way... was currently drooling on his pillow at home, the clock reading 10 o clock am.

One wouldn't blame him either. Astro was up until 1 because of various things that had happened that he had to help out with or take care of. It's surprising why a person would wake up until midnight to do some dumb chemistry project that was bound to blow up anyway on the third highest floor of a skyscraper... I mean, what the heck, man? You knew it was going to blow up, you couldn't have done it somewhere else? You had to do it on one of the top floors of a skyscraper? Back to the point... Everyone had to be evacuated and the fire had to be put out. Because Astro can fly, he got everyone out starting from the highest floor and working his way down as the fire department used air vehicles to put the fire out since it was so high up. Everyone turned out fine, including the idiot chemist wannabe, and Astro went home to sleep.

Anyway, our favorite hero was woken up by his sister jumping on him.

"OW! Who is this?" Astro asked, half asleep, even though he knew only his sister would jump on him like that.

"Wake up, Astro! You're sleeping in again!" Zoran said in her cute voice. She was wearing a pink dress, Astro noticed once his eyes opened fully.

"Well, yeah! Your brother was out heroically saving the city." Astro said enthusiastically, making Zoran giggle.

"Oh yeah? I want proof." Zoran told Astro stubbornly, still on top of him. Zoran had started playing with Astro's hair, pulling on it and looping it around her little finger.

"You want proof?"

"Yeah."

"I'LL GIVE YOU PROOF!" Astro said, and all of a sudden he grabbed his sister and hugged her tight, making her squeak in surprise.

"I squished the robot like THIS!" Astro said, squeezing his sister tighter. Zoran laughed.

"And then I did THIS!" Astro covered Zoran's eyes, still holding her with his other hand.

"The robot couldn't see anything?" Zoran asked in wonder.

"Nooo..." Astro said spookily.

"Then what?"

"I did THIS!" Astro tickled his sister and only stopped when she was breathless from laughing, then Zoran looked up, eyes sparkling, to watch her brother continue the story.

"And then I blasted him with a cannon and BOOM! He was gone..." Astro said, "Everyone in the city was cheering, 'Hooray, Astro!'"

"Whoa..." Zoran stared at her brother in awe, "One day, I'm gonna be just like you! I'll fly through the city and save people!"

"And I'll be right beside you." Astro told his sister.

All of a sudden, A buzzing sound was heard only to Astro as a man's voice was heard to Astro:

"Help, there's a runaway car on the streets without a driver, and it's going faster and faster!"

Another voice, a woman's, asked, "Can you identify the number plate, sir?"

"Yeah, I think I can see it from here... yeah, it's XX XXXX XX!"

"Street, sir?"

"XX Avenue."

"Thank you for reporting this issue, the police are on it."

"Yeah, no problem, but hurry!" Another buzzing sound marked the end of the call.

"What was that?" Zoran asked. She was pretty confused since Astro was hearing something she couldn't.

"It was a call from the police." Astro told his sister as they hopped out of bed.

"Really? What did they say?"

"They said I'm amazing." Astro said, striking a heroic pose, then putting on a light blue sweater to go with his black pants with blue edges.

"No they didn't!" Zoran said, giggling at her older brother.

"C'mon, let's go." Astro said, and they both headed to the living room.

"Good morning, dad. How's it going, Orrin?" Astro said as he walked past Dr. Tenma and Orrin, getting, "Good morning, Astro." And "It is going well, Astro." Astro had told Orrin not to call him Master because it was weird. It took some time for Orrin to get used to it, but it worked in the end.

"Nothing for me?" Astro's new mom, Rin, asked, pretending to be emotionally hurt. Thing is, Astro fell for it every time, his heart was really as pure as gold.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you, I'm sorry, good morning!" Astro said so fast that you could only catch a few words.

"Relax, I was joking!" Astro's mom said as she came into view. Astro's mom had beautiful midnight black hair that reached her hip, however she usually wore it up in a loose bun. She had dark eyes and she wore a bright orange dress.

"Oh." Astro simply stood there baffled for a second until he said, "Okay then good morning," a bit awkwardly before he sat down at the dining table. Astro's mom smiled in amusement at her son's nervousness even though this is, what? the twentieth time he's fallen for the act of his mom pretending to be mad at him or hurt by something he said, or in this case, didn't say.

"Imma go pee!" Zoran announced before she ran off. Astro laughed. He was going to teach her not to say stuff like that in public once she was old enough to get it.

"Anything new?" Astro's dad asked.

Astro replied, "Some car went speeding out of control without a driver. I'm going to leave the police alone on this one unless they call me. They're trained for that kind of thing."

Astro's dad nodded in agreement. Then he said, "What about that robot you told me was after you? Didn't you say you had to meet him today for a battle behind your school?"

"Oh, Atlas? Yeah, I got some background info on him after a while of searching. Turns out that Atlas was made by some scientist who wanted his creation to be the hero of the city, so he wants to battle with me until one of us is destroyed to see who's better. I must've been scanned or something, cuz Atlas is almost an exact replica save for the looks. Mine are obviously better."

Dr. Tenma chuckled before he said, "Astro, back to the point."

"Right. So Atlas has got the same powers and everything, except he's rechargeable. I'm thinking I'll use that to my advantage."

"It would be good to take advantage of the differences between you two, but don't you think he could do the same thing back to you? Use the fact that you're powered by the blue core as an advantage?"

"What part of 'I never run out of energy' is a disadvantage? And also, the one thing he could have used, the Red Core, is gone. I destroyed it."

"Okay, you got me there, but what if he's been upgraded to have more weaponry? Nobody said that's impossible."

"I'll find out at 2 I guess... seriously... he has the nerve to fight the most powerful robot in Metro City in broad daylight? And also, what's taking Zoran so long?"

"Astro, don't get overconfident." Astro's dad said.

Almost as if on cue, Zoran appeared in the doorway. "I'm back and I'm done using the bathroom!" She yelled, again announcing the fact that she was gone to pee. Astro sighed and rolled his eyes.

TWO MINUTES EARLIER

Zoran had finished using the bathroom and went up to the doorway that went into the living room but stopped when she heard something that interested her.

"What about that robot you told me was after you? Didn't you say you had to meet him today for a battle behind your school?" That was Dad's voice! He must be talking to Astro...

"Oh, Atlas? Yeah, I got some background info on him after a while of searching. Turns out that Atlas was made by some scientist who wanted his creation to be the hero of the city, so he wants to battle with me until one of us is destroyed to see who's better. I must've been scanned or something, cuz Atlas is almost an exact replica save for the looks. Mine are obviously better." Zoran was shocked. She zoned out at "destroyed", not even hearing the joke that came at the end. Destroyed? Her brother was going to get destroyed?! Zoran knew her brother was a robot, and knew that if a robot is destroyed, it'll never be the same again if repaired. This could be as small as getting a few different parts making the robot's movements unnatural or unusual for a few days, or it could be as big as all the memories being gone or something never working again. Zoran was not going to let her brother get destroyed. She zoned back in on the conversation.

"Okay, you got me there, but what if he's been upgraded to have more weaponry? Nobody said that's impossible." Dad's voice again. How much of the conversation did she miss? Must've been a lot.

"I'll find out at 2 I guess... seriously... he has the nerve to fight the most powerful robot in Metro City in broad daylight? And also, what's taking Zoran so long?"

Zoran panicked. She had taken too long. She had to get out. Now.

"Astro, don't get overconfident." Zoran's Dad said, and Zoran came out of her hiding place.

"I'm back and I'm done using the bathroom!" Zoran yelled, making her presence known. Zoran added the last part of being done using the bathroom just in case Astro suspected anything about her hearing the conversation. Astro sighed and rolled his eyes, even though Zoran doesn't get why.

BACK TO PRESENT TIME

"Come Zoran, you want to play something?" Astro asked his sister.

"No, I want you to tell me a story!" Zoran said as she hopped into her brother's lap.

"For that, Cora's who you want." Astro said.

"Let's go meet her!" Zoran suggested, excited.

"Why not? Dad?" Astro asked, his dad being right there.

"Go ahead. But be careful, and come back by lunch." Their dad warned.

"Yessir!" Both siblings said in unison before Astro and Zoran went out into the balcony.

Astro leaned down and Zoran climbed on his back, her hands around Astro's neck, and Astro holding her in place with his hands. Then Astro stood up, said, "Hold on tight!" And they shot into the sky. Zoran laughed with delight.

They went up, up, up, into the clouds. Zoran let go of Astro's neck with one hand to touch the clouds. She stared at them in awe. Then Astro's rockets turned off as they both freefalled down for a second, then Astro caught them with his rockets when they were just below the clouds, and lowered them both onto the surface right in front of Hamegg's.

Astro kneeled down to allow Zoran to come off of his back before Astro kicked the bottom of the door twice.

The letter hole slid open. "What's the password?" A small kid asked, pretending to sound scary.

"You are the all-powerful messenger of fear that was sent by god himself to wreak havoc on the planet if people disobeyed you." Astro said in monotone as he rolled his eyes, Zoran was pretty close to bursting into laughter.

"Ah thank you." The kid said before the letter slot closed and the door opened, allowing Astro and Zoran to walk in. Once Astro did walk in though, he said, "Actually, you're not." To the same kid and didn't stop to see the horrified expression he knew was there and kept walking forward.

Zoran spotted a friend and ran to her, they both started playing together immediately, all interest in a story forgotten by now. Astro met Cora and Zane in the kitchen. Astro stood in the doorway, watching them argue.

"Why did you add 2 cups of flour? The cookbook clearly says one!" Cora questioned Zane.

"No, It says 2! I read it myself!" Zane argued. Astro decided he'll scare them good, and left his spot leaning on the doorway and creeped up to the pair.

"You're the one who didn't know how to read until a few years ago!"

"Seriously! It says 2, the number 2 is written here! Look." Zane pointed to something on the cookbook Cora was holding. Astro was directly behind them now.

"We're not doing that recipe!" Cora yelled as she shut the book and swung it at Zane's head. Zane ducked, but the book hit Astro's head instead, who was standing directly behind Zane.

Astro, similar to a brick wall, didn't even move. Instead, he took the hit full force square in the face, and when Cora and Zane stood there, completely shocked, he said, "OW?"

That was when Cora and Zane got off from their spots and ran around like mad, Zane getting an icepack from the fridge, Cora putting the cookbook down, Zane picking up Astro's hand and placing the icepack in it, Cora yelling at Zane and telling him to put it on Astro's nose instead, Zane leaving the icepack in Astro's hand as he rushed to stop the bowl of flour from falling off the table, Cora shoving the icepack into Astro's face... let's stop there.

"Guys, guys, chill... I'm okay!" Astro said as he pulled the icepack Cora was holding away from his face. They all burst out laughing.

Apparently they were trying to make bread. Wow were they bad at it.

For a few hours, Zoran played happily with her friend while Astro and his friends failed epically at making bread twice before they got it right, making a mess of the kitchen, in the end, it was the insane amount of fun they had that mattered. After that it was 12:30 in the afternoon, time for lunch, and Astro remembered that his dad was expecting him and Zoran back by this time. Astro said bye to his friends and got Zoran and himself home by 12:45.

At Astro's house, lunch was ready, and you could smell the scent of pasta from any room in the house. Astro and Zoran's mom was a really good cook, and her noodles were to die for.

Astro and Zoran happily ate their pasta until Astro heard a buzz that only he could hear and he paused eating.

A woman called the police station, "My son is missing, please help me find him, I don't know where he is!" Astro went silent and concentrated on the sound, as his sister, dad and mom watched him,

Another voice was heard as some police officer responded, "Ma'am, tell us where you saw your son last and we'll check the security cams."

"I was at the mall and he was with me as we were leaving, and while we were waiting for the taxi I looked in the other direction for two seconds and he was gone!" The woman sounded like she was either crying or about to cry.

"Alright, we're going to look for your son, please don't worry too much about him."

"Thank you, thank you so much..." A buzzing sound was heard and that was the end of the call.

"So?" Astro's dad asked.

"The police station was called and there's a child who got lost in front of the mall. Personally, I really think the kid's mom should be holding his hand or the other way around at all times while in public. It's safer." Astro said.

Astro's dad replied with, "Yeah, I agree." Before everyone continued like nothing ever happened.

After lunch, Astro and Zoran went to Astro's room and played a game of charades, the cleaning robots joining in at some point. When Zoran was trying to act out Astro, she was running around in circles to imitate Astro flying. The cleaning robots guessed she was trying to impersonate a screwdriver... yeah that was interesting. The cleaning robots tried acting out a kite, but that lead to fifteen minutes of confusion for even Astro.

Then, while Zoran was acting out water, she was doing the wave with her arms and the cleaning robots looked at Astro like, "Your sister's blown a circuit, that's what I say."

"No she hasn't for the last time, my sister's not a robot." Astro said, still looking at his sister who was now pretending to drink a glass of... water! That's it!

"Water!" Astro said.

"Yes yes yes yes!" Zoran said, and jumped up and down in happiness.

A buzz was heard to Astro and he heard a police officer, Officer Tawashi, from the other end say, "Astro, we need your help. There's a child, Miko, that was kidnapped a little while ago and we found out who did it and where he is now. The police are completely helpless!"

"Why, officer?" Astro asked, as he put on his sweater and got ready to go.

"The child's in the hands of a criminal a few blocks behind the Ministry, who wants to trade the him for money, otherwise Miko's done for!"

"How much money are we talking?"

"He said a hundred million!"

"This guy's insane! 'Kay, I'll be there in two."

"Please do..." A buzz and that was the end.

Astro turned to the cleaner robots and his sister, "Sorry, but I've gotta take this." With that, Astro blasted out of the room right through the window, leaving only a trail of smoke to show he was actually in the room.

Astro was pretty much on end now. It was 1: 40 and if Astro wanted to make it to the duel with Atlas, he had to make this save a quick one. In and out. That's it.

Astro got to the scene and landed with skill he'd developed over years. There were at least 5 police cars surrounding a building

"I'm here, Officer Tawashi." Astro said. When something was so serious that Astro had to come to the scene, Officer Tawashi is usually the one working with Astro and leading the mission.

"Good. Use the element of surprise, Astro. The enemy doesn't know you're here.

"You got it." Astro snuck over to a window in the side of the building. In and out, he can do this.

MEANWHILE AT HOME

Zoran looked at the time. She was waiting for her brother to come back. It had been... no idea. Zoran didn't know how to read analog time yet. She only knew it when it was in digital form.

Zoran looked at a digital clock in another room. 1:55. Astro still wasn't back.

"I'll find out at 2 I guess..." Zoran remembered Astro say. Yeah... Zoran should help her brother if she was going to be like him when she grows up. But where would she find the robot? Zoran remembered her dad say, "Didn't you say you had to meet him today for a battle behind your school?" Behind Astro's school. That's where she would find the robot that wanted to destroy her brother. She will go fight the robot for him! No big deal, right? All Zoran had to do was go through Astro's desk, she once saw Cora and Zane get weapons from there, so she should be able to find them too.

Zoran ran to her brother's room, and checked if anyone was watching before she opened the bottom drawer in Astro's desk. Nothing. Second to bottom? Nothing. All the rest of the drawers? Nothing. How? They should be right here.

Zoran looked all around the desk, and spotted nothing except for a rectangular shaped hole in the side. What if that was it? Zoran looked into the hole. From that angle it looked more like a handle, since you would be able to hook your fingers into it.

Okay... Zoran held the handle, and pulled. She wasn't expecting anything to happen, but instead a secret compartment in the desk slid open with a hiss. Inside, there was every kind of gun and weapon Zoran could imagine. Big guns, small guns, tasers, hoverboards, a dead battery... a dead battery? Huh.

Zoran grabbed a taser, knowing robots are sensitive to electricity. Astro told her that. Then Zoran grabbed an energy blaster cuz it was cool. Zoran, satisfied, slid the secret compartment close again and told her parents she was going to go out to play before she ran out of the house with the taser and blaster in a small bag to Astro's school.

TIME SKIP

Zoran had reached Astro's school and went behind it. There was a robot there, wearing mostly red and orange clothes and had yellow orange hair.

Zoran, not thinking twice about how dangerous the robot could be, came into view with the blaster pointed at Atlas and yelled, "Surrender now! Or I'll destroy you!"

Atlas turned around in confusion. Expecting a teenage boy, he'd been confused when he heard the voice of a young girl.

"Who are you, squirt?" Atlas asked, clearly amused.

"I'm Astro's little sister, and I won't let you hurt him!" Zoran said.

Atlas laughed. This was going to be fun. He wanted to see the face of Astro when his little sister dies at the hands of an enemy. But then again... Atlas could use Astro's little sister to his advantage. This was an interesting decision. Atlas thought for barely a second and came to a conclusion. Atlas would kill his enemy's little sister. What would happen then?

"Take this!" Zoran yelled as she aimed the taser blaster at Atlas. Unfortunately, she was a pretty bad shot. Zoran missed by four feet and Atlas didn't even flinch.

Atlas turned his hand into a cannon and pointed it at Zoran. Zoran came to a quick conclusion. She wasn't going to be able to beat this guy. She shook with fearas the cannon charged up. Atlas shot the cannon. Zoran sqeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the shot, but it never came.

Zoran opened her eyes... and in front of her was Astro! He was... kneeling down? Zoran came to a realization. Her brother had taken the shot for her.

Astro shakily got to his feet, "Your fight is with me, Atlas, NOT my sister." Astro was using THAT tone, the tone of voice he used when he seriously meant business. It was also pretty scary.

"Aw... but it would have been fun." Atlas replied, faking disappointment but smiling creepily at the same time.

"No, it really wouldn't have." Astro said, getting into a fighting stance.

"We'll see about that." Atlas said as he did the same.

Both robots fired up their rockets at the same time and flew at each other, meeting in the middle where they both threw punch after punch at each other. At one point, Astro turned his eyes into searchlights, blinding Atlas for a second, giving Astro a short window of time to blast Atlas with a cannon in the chest.

Atlas was thrown back, but he regained his balance pretty fast and flew back at Astro, his cannon charged. Atlas shot in the direction of Astro a few times, Astro dodging with years of experience on his side. Astro got out his cannon and shot at Atlas. Bang! Miss. Boom! Right in the head. Pow! Chest. Good going.

Atlas was getting visibly weaker, but so was Astro. Zoran noticed, and while Astro and Atlas were zooming around each other like bumblebees, Zoran took out the taser and aimed at the fast moving Atlas.

Zoran shot in the direction of Atlas, missing terribly. She tried again, missing again.

"Don't do that, Zoran, you'll hit me!" Astro yelled in her direction. However Zoran was probably completely deaf cuz she continued. And guess who she shot next.

"AH!" Astro yelled, mostly in surprise. He lost his balance in the air for a second before he was steady again.

"What did I tell you, Zoran?!" Astro scolded.

"I'm sorry! I just want to help!" Zoran was terrified by now. She had hurt her brother using his one weakness against him. She threw the taser far away from her out of fear, wanting the one thing that hurt her brother away from her.

"Look at that, your sister shot you. Who's side is she on?" Atlas said, making Astro mad.

"Stop coming in between me and my sister!" Astro yelled at him.

Atlas swooped to the ground, and Astro went after him.

They both shot at each other. Astro took any shot directed at Zoran, making him take more shots than if Zoran weren't there. However Astro's experience and good aim evened the score.

All of a sudden, Atlas grabbed something on the ground. The taser. That's why he went closer to the ground!

Atlas cranked the taser up to full power and aimed at Zoran, knowing that if he did, Astro would surely take the shot.

In effort to protect his sister, Astro got in front of her and the taser zapped him. The electricity overwhelmed Astro's senses. Something blew up inside him, making Astro yell.

Once the taser had stopped zapping Astro, his arms and legs gave in, making him fall to the ground in front of Zoran, sparking with electricity and black smoke coming out of the side of his open mouth. A tear slid down her cheek.

"Well, Astro, do you give up now?" Atlas asked as he got closer to the robot lying on the ground. There was a faint whirr and Astro got up to all fours using his hands as support.

"Never." Astro said just before he did a flip, in the process deliberately knocking the taser out of Atlas' hand.

Atlas froze in shock, but by the time he was back to his senses, Astro had the taser and it was aimed at him. Atlas scowled, but not for long as Astro shut his eyes and zapped Atlas.

Astro held the taser there for longer than Atlas had, letting the taser take some energy out of the Core for extra power. It was only after three powerful explosions were heard from inside Atlas that Astro stopped.

Atlas dropped to the ground, destroyed. Astro turned around and asked Zoran, "Zoran, you okay?"

Zoran nodded in response, and was about to go hug her older brother until the taser slipped out of Astro's hand, and Astro fell to the ground.

"Astro?" Zoran asked, shaking her older brother's shoulder. She didn't get a response. Zoran started crying. It was her fault her brother had been destroyed protecting her. It just wasn't fair. Zoran should have known better than to get involved.

TIME SKIP

Someone had found the damaged body of Astro being held protectively by Zoran, and called Dr. Elefun. News spread quickly, and Astro was brought to the Ministry by his friends for repairs, and while he was being repaired, Cora and Zane sat with Zoran sniffling between them in a waiting room.

Zoran was taking this pretty hard on herself. She'll never be able to get rid of the image of her brother, lying limp on the ground, smoking. Thankfully Cora and Zane, Astro's friends, were there to comfort her somewhat, telling her Astro will be just fine.

A few minutes later, the door to the lab opened, and Dr. Tenma walked out.

All three looked up, waiting for good news. Dr. Tenma let the three go into the lab and there they found Astro, lying peacefully on the lab table. Astro was connected to multiple wires and tubes through his arms, connecting Astro to the machines in the room.

"Astro will be just fine, you don't have to worry about him." Dr. Tenma said.

The next two hours were used up in Cora and Zane playing card games as Zoran slept soundly in a chair beside Zane.

Then, the three of them heard a noise from the lab table. A faint whirr. If someone was talking they would have missed it completely. Cora and Zane's heads turned to Astro. Zane shook Zoran awake, and Zoran also sleepily looked in that direction.

It was the simplest thing, but it felt like something magical. Astro slowly sat up, still connected to the wires.

He turned to look around, and his eyes settled on his friends and sister. Astro smiled, and that's when the barrier broke.

Cora, Zane, and Zoran unfroze from their spots, dropped everything and they all ran up to Astro, Zoran wide awake and crying, Cora and Zane concerned. Astro swung his legs over the side of the lab table so that now his feet were dangling off the edge.

Astro hugged Zoran tight, telling her he'd never leave her as she soaked his shirt with tears, all while answering any questions or concerns Cora and Zane had about him.

Dr. Tenma entered the room at that moment and said, "Oh, Astro, you're awake!"

"Hi dad." Zoran and Astro said in unison.

"Let's get those wires and tubes out of you, shall we?" Dr. Tenma asked, even though it technically wasn't a question.

"Yes please!" Astro said as he laid down. One by one, the tubes and wires were taken out of Astro. Apparently they were pretty deep in. Who knew?

Once Astro was free, he scooped Zoran up and took her on piggyback out the lab after a quick, "Thanks, dad!" And a wave bye.

And Zoran knew not to interfere in her brother's fights ever again. She trusted Astro enough to know Astro will give her a chance once she's older, but now is not the time.

THE END

* * *

I'm sorry. I know it's complete trash. k i can't handle the embarrassment imgoingbye! o.O


	4. Truth or Dare?

This one's for you, PancakeStudios! It took some time, but it's done! This Story was in a way like a collaboration with PancakeStudios, as the ideas were not ALL mine... yeah. Idea database, I tell you.

Forgive any plot or spelling mistakes, i didn't bother to reread the story before I posted it. K read the story!

* * *

A pajama party. Really? Astro had never been to one, nor had Toby, but that was probably because Astro's time was mostly occupied in crime fighting, and Toby was too much of a nerd to care. Either way, it was his first time, And Astro was going to make the most of it.

It was 6 in the evening, and as Astro looked through his wardrobe, he couldn't find a single pair of actual pajamas. The nights Astro did get a few hours of sleep, since he's busy all the time, he just wore the most comfortable thing he could find in his closet and flopped down on bed, not caring about anything else and went to sleep, knowing that his dad would wake him up in the morning in time for school or if Metro City needed saving... Again. The life of a hero is hard.

Astro got out a pair of pants similar to the ones he wears all the time, except for the fact that there was no red on it, and the entire thing was dark blue. Astro also grabbed a blue shirt that said, "You're not going to stand a chance against me." With a Blue Core pattern all over the shirt. Astro put both into a paper bag, then grabbed his new electric blue Ministry of Science cap and put it on his head.

"Hey, dad! I'm going to Hamegg's for the sleepover I told you about, I'll be back by afternoon tomorrow!" Astro called to his dad, and waited for the reply.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow!" Dr. Tenma called back, and Astro was satisfied.

Astro opened the window, and sat on the window ledge. He swung his legs outside. He gripped the paper bag with his clothes in it tightly, then he tipped over and let gravity bring him down. When Astro was at a two storey height from the ground, he blasted his rockets at full power, bringing him in an upright position, but he didn't even stay there for a second. Astro flew up, up, up all the way above the tallest towers of Metro City, all the way above the clouds, feeling the cool air speed past his face, until he let his rockets come to a stop, making him fall to the ground again, first reaching the height of the tallest towers in Metro City, then reaching the height of Metro City itself, then falling down to Surface level. When Astro reached the height of about a storey off the ground, he blasted his rockets to full power again, zipping past the trash piles with a skill he was quite literally made for. Once  
Astro got close to Hamegg's, he slowed down and landed like an expert and a bit of a showoff at the same time, but who cares about that? Anyway, it was a miracle Astro's cap was still on, either that or it was the spikes. Again, who cares? As long as Astro still has his cap

Astro knocked on the door, and the letter hole slid open, a familiar pair of eyes stared back at him. Cora. Apparently she decided to have some fun, because she said, "Who goes there?" In a *cough* supposed to be *cough* creepy voice.

Astro rolled his eyes. "You know perfectly well." He replied.

"I shall not allow you to enter, robot boy!" Cora said, and Astro could hear laughter in the background. Zane.

"Fine then, I suppose who I was looking for isn't here! What will I possibly do?" Astro said dramatically. He could hear more laughter in the background. Astro then pretended to be very disappointed, and said in a slightly dramatic way, "Ah well, I guess I'll have to leave... oh the fun I was planning to have with who I thought were such great friends."

The laughter in the background stopped, they probably thought Astro was being serious... but he tried to make it as fake as he could! Either he was a better actor than he thought, or his friends were seriously dense. Either way, a new idea formed in Astro's mind.

Astro's feet disappeared, replaced by blasts of fire as he shot up into the air. He could hear the door open and the tapping of footsteps running just before he heard Cora's voice, "Astro! Astro, Come back!"

Astro smiled. This was working. Astro landed at the back of the building, spotting the back entrance. It wasn't known about by a lot of people, as it was pretty much useless, so they covered it up, forgetting about it later on. Astro found it by coincidence, and didn't tell his friends yet... which had its advantages. Astro moved a huge piece of partly crumpled metal to the side with his strength and opened the door under it. Astro replaced the metal after he got in, then shut the door quietly.

Astro went to the room where the kids usually play. Now there was nobody there. They were probably getting ready for bed. Instead, Zane was the only one there, a look of worry on his face as he stood up from the spot he was sitting at earlier.

"I didn't mean to call you robot boy, please come back!" Cora yelled out into space... Astro felt kind of bad for her.

"Cora, what happened?" Zane asked.

"He left! I called him robot boy and he left!" Cora said, still looking outside in hopes to spot the robot that was in fact behind her. She sounded distressed, Astro noted.

Astro put his paper bag to one side and snuck up behind Zane as Cora yelled into the sky once more, "Astro! Come on, you have got to be hiding, don't do this!"

Astro moved fast. He covered Zane's mouth with one hand as he held Zane in place with the other. Zane struggled, no sound being able to come out of his mouth, until Astro made himself visible. Zane relaxed. Astro removed the arm he was using to hold Zane in place and put his first finger on his lip in a silent sign of "be quiet". When Zane nodded, Astro removed his hand from Zane's mouth and approached Cora.

"Come on, Astro that's enough, show yourself!" Cora said, desperate by now, feeling responsible for seemingly ruining Astro's first sleepover party. She turned around in defeat... to bump into Astro.

Cora was too baffled to speak. She pointed outside, then pointed inside, then pointed inside with the hand she pointed outside with, and pointed outside with the hand she pointed inside with. Then pointed in random directions with random hands... then slumped in defeat. "How did you do that?" She asked.

"I'm faster than I look, and by the way, 'robot boy' is okay with me." Astro explained, then grinned goofily. The three laughed.

"Okay, so let's get started with our sleepover... why aren't you wearing pajamas?" Zane asked Astro.

"I could say the same to you." Astro told him. Cora and Zane weren't wearing PJs... they were in their daily clothes.

"So let's get changed." Cora suggested. The boys both voiced their agreements. Then Cora and Zane ran off to their beds, where they had all their clothes, and Astro to his paper bag in the corner.

A few minutes later they met in the same spot. Astro had taken off his cap and came wearing his dark blue pants and blue shirt that said, "You're not going to stand a chance against me." With a Blue Core pattern all over the shirt. Yes... VERY BLUE.

Cora's pajamas were basically fluffy dark purple pants, and a light purple shirt that said, "I'm a limited edition" on it in white.

Zane was wearing sweatpants that were black, and a yellow shirt that said, "WARNING – If ninjas attack us, I'm using you as a shield." With funny stick figures acting out the scene.

"Umm..." Both Cora and Astro said together, their confusion directed towards Zane.

"What?" Zane asked.

"You look like a bumblebee with a bad haircut." Astro blurted out.

"Oh yeah? Look in the mirror, horn head." Zane shot back.

"Horn head? Oh that's it." Astro said before he advanced on Zane, rolling up his sleeves.

"Boys." Cora scolded. They both froze, Astro halfway to flipping Zane upside down, and Cora said, "We get it, Astro, you're stronger, no need to show off."

"Who's side are you on?" Astro argued, dropping Zane, who landed on his side with an "Ow. What the heck, man?"

"Mine." Cora said flatly, making Astro's jaw drop.

A little while later the three had settled down with a stack of pillows, a lot of stuffies, a few bedsheets, and two mattresses in Hamegg's lab to spend the night.

Astro started a conversation, "So this is my first sleepover, and it's only 7. What do we do first?"

"spooooky storieeeees!" Zane said.

Astro and Cora stared at him.

"What?" Zane asked.

"Oh how spooooky." Astro said, and Cora burst out laughing as Zane frowned at him. First the three built a blanket fort with a few chairs brought from the other end of the room, and the all snuggled up all cozy inside.

The three then shared stories but when Zane was acting out a scene where he hit an evil robot, he was using the pillow as a pretend weapon and he hit Astro in the face. Astro fell on his back with an, "OOMPH!". He lay there for a second, staring at Zane and Cora looking down at him curiously before out of nowhere, Astro whacked the side of Zane's head with a pillow of his own. Zane's jaw dropped to the floor before he whacked Astro back. Soon Cora decided to join in the fun and they had themselves a pillow fight, and they even started throwing the plushies around at one point.

A little while into the pillow fight, Astro had run out of pillows on his side. He looked around and found a glowstick about a foot and a half long... weird. Astro activated the glowstick, and used it as a weapon to defend himself from the pillow attacks. Cora and Zane also grabbed a glowstick and soon, the pillow fight turned into a lightsaber battle, Astro and his friends making the sound effects.

Obviously after a long time of playing and accidentally destroying the fort in the process, they all got tired and flopped down onto the stack of abandoned pillows. Totally awesome.

Once the three had caught their breath, Cora said, "That was so much fun."

"Yeah," Astro replied, "especially that time I beat Zane's sorry butt."

"Quite literally," Cora commented.

"Hey!" Zane argued, "What about when I hit you with 4 pillows at once?! I call that a defeat."

"And I call it bad aim." Astro said, leaving Zane speechless and Cora laughing.

"I think I won the game." Cora said proudly.

"Oh yeah?" Astro said, "I go easy on girls. Care for a super powered rematch?"

"Nope too lazy."

"More like chicken."

"You're on!" Cora said, throwing a pillow at Astro's face. Astro, however, with his quick reflexes, caught the pillow mid throw, stood up, spun the pillow around and hit Cora in the face, knocking her backwards.

"I would say, 'now we're talking!' But there's no fight in ya. You're not even worth it." Astro said playfully.

"You used your powers!" Cora argued, trying to cover up her defeat.

"Nope. Plain and simple physics. Nothing to it. Throw the pillow right and you get a huge amount of force, you see, if you - "

"Pass on the physics lesson, Professor Astro." Cora said, knowing Astro doesn't stop when you get him talking about Physics or Trigonometry.

The three had gotten to work creating another blanket fort to replace the earlier one, and with Astro's powers this time, it made the whole thing a lot faster. The entire thing was now much larger and lit up with the glowsticks used for the lightsaber battle earlier.

All three got inside the new and improved blanket fort they laid down in comfortable silence. All until Zane said, "Truth or dare?" Astro looked around and found that Zane was looking at Cora, and Cora turned to look at him.

"Umm... Dare." Cora replied.

"Okay, grab that plush bunny and pretend he has a soul and talk to him... in an accent!"

Cora picked up the bunny Zane was talking about. It was white, but because of age and repeated use it had become a bit brownish.

Cora rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Zane? In an accent? Fine." Astro looked at the pair in confusion, while Cora goes up to the guard robot and says, "Why, Hello!" In her best, but still awful, British accent.

Astro stares at her, his expression reading, "What the heck is she doing?" As Zane bursts out laughing beside him.

"You're very... um... small. And made of fluff." Cora said lamely. Astro started laughing too.

"How's the weather? I mean, the weather's good, and you are?" Cora's words were starting to get mixed up, torn between making sense of the question and trying to keep the accent.

The inanimate bunny stared up at her innocently.

"Oh you know what? I give up." Cora exclaimed, throwing the bunny behind her in defeat as she looked back to the two boys, who were currently laughing even harder at the word mix up. After a swift bonk from Cora to both their heads, they shut up... but they were still snickering.

"Okay, Astro, your turn, Truth or dare?" Cora asked, turning to her robotic friend.

Astro looks at her in confusion for a second, then asks, "Wait, so what would happen if I say truth?"

Zane and Cora stared at him for a good 5 seconds until they came to a conclusion.

"You don't know truth or dare?" Zane asked.

"You've never played?" Cora questioned.

Astro shook his head no in response to both of his friends' questions.

Cora started explaining, "Okay, it's actually quite simple, let's say you ask me, truth or dare?"

Zane then said, "Cora has to say either truth or dare, as the question suggests."

"If I said truth, you have to ask me a question and I have to respond with the truth."

"If Cora said dare, you have to dare her to do something."

Finished with the explanation, Cora repeated her question, asking Astro truth or dare.

"Truth" Astro replied.

"Okay... what's the worst mark you've ever remembered getting on a test?" Cora asked, knowing Astro aces most of his tests.

Astro's entire face turned a shade of pink and Cora and Zane knew this was going to be interesting.

Astro said something, but it was so quiet that Cora beside him couldn't hear it.

"Come again?" Zane asked. Astro's face turned red and he said the same thing a bit louder,

"87%" Astro revealed. Cora and Zane blinked, then sighed. Seriously? 87% was considered pretty okay. Zane and Cora started laughing as Astro tried to make himself disappear, but his friends weren't laughing at his failure, they were laughing at his reaction to something so average.

"What? I had a late night and I forgot to eat breakfast that morning cuz I woke up late and I had to rush to get to school see that was when I became a robot so I had the powers to do it at that point..." Astro kept rambling on and on and Zane had to grip his shoulders tight and shake him hard to get Astro to snap out of it.

"Truth or dare, Zane?" Astro asked to try to get his friend's thoughts away from his failure.

"Truth." Zane replied.

"Okay... were you actually raised by wild dogs?" Astro asked his friend.

Zane fake gasped, "Of course I was! Until I was 7. Yes, I was." Astro's iris turned electric blue and his pupils turned white, and he looked Zane over.

"What's that? It's creepy." Zane said, backing away from Astro slightly.

"I can tell if people lie or not by scanning them," Astro explained.

"Yeah? And what does it show for me?" Zane said, full of himself.

"You're lying." Astro said, as his eye color changed back to chocolate brown and his pupils turned back to black.

"I- but-" Zane stammered, then flopped down in defeat, "Fine, I wasn't raised by wild dogs, I was raised by some nice lady until I was 5, then I went exploring and got lost, we never saw each other again. Then Hamegg found me."

"That's more like it." Astro said, as Cora laughed in the background.

The game continued. They went the other way this time, so everyone gets the chance to ask all the others. Zane got Astro to let them restyle his hair, and Astro didn't back out just because it was a dare. With some ponytail rubber bands Cora happened to have, they made Astro look like a porcupine. Astro found his cap and put it on in embarrassment.

Astro got Cora to confess that although she's glad she was reunited with her parents, she doesn't like to live with her parents, and would much rather live on the Surface. The time Cora spent on the Surface fed her determined, fierce and courageous personality, while her parents were overprotective and wanted her to be the type of girl who likes stuff like fairies, unicorns, and the color pink.

Cora got Zane to act like he was a pirate, complete with the accent, and battle Astro with imaginary swords. Let's just say a bumblebee with a bad haircut fighting a robotic porcupine with nothing as weapons is a funny sight.

They switched it around again, and Zane dared Cora to pummel Astro with anything and everything she could find that was soft and fluffy, and all Astro could do was dodge. That particular fight lead to a pile of pillows and stuffies with Astro buried at the bottom and a happy Cora as she had gotten her revenge against "Professor Astro"... How's physics gonna HELP YOU NOW?! Zane was a mess. He was pretty much rolling across the floor in laughter at the most powerful robot in Metro City be defeated by a pillow throwing GIRL.

Once Zane had gotten a hold of himself and Astro had dug his way out of Plushie Prison. Cora decided to dare Astro something he would never dream of doing...

"Flick your dad's nose." Cora blurted.

"What?" Astro had definitely heard that wrong. Flick his dad's nose? Haha, no way, never gonna –

"Flick your dad's nose while he's sleeping." Cora said. Yup, Cora just said that.

"No way." Astro replied bluntly.

"Come on, Astro, this once, and you don't have to do anything like it ever again." Zane urged. He was apparently interested in the idea.

"Fine," Astro said, "But first, put my hair back to the way it was before."

After a short time of arguing, which was overpowered by Astro as the others wanted to see this dare happen, Astro got his hair back into the usual spikes but kept his cap on.

Okay, guys, if you both want to get to my house as well, you're going to have to hang on to me.

Cora and Zane looked a bit nervous, as they've never been flown via "Astro Express" anywhere. They all went outside the orphanage and Astro held Cora and Zane's hand with either of his.

"Sorry in advance if I squeeze a bit tight, hang on..." Astro activated his rockets, flying into the sky a bit slow at first, and getting faster.

"AaAAAaAaAaaAAAHhhHhhhhHHHhHhHHH!" Cora and Zane yelled as they flew through the sky. Astro laughed at his friends as they weren't used to this, but he was. It was around 10 in the night, and the stars looked pretty when seen from this high up.

Astro and Cora stared at him. Zane looked up. "What?" He asked.

" Does the bumblebee want to fly again? It would be my pleasure." Astro said. Zane scowled at Astro as Cora laughed. "Okay, guys." Astro said, "If we want to do this, I'm going to have to make a quick escape."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Cora asked.

"Though the window." Astro said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But we're watching." Zane insisted. Astro thought for a second and said, "Okay, you two can peek in from the door to my dad's room, and once I'm done, I'll escape through the window and you two will run to the balcony. I'll pick you up and we'll rocket out of here."

"I approve." Cora said. Zane voiced his agreement as well.

The next thing you know, three teenagers in PJs are sneaking around in the house of the head of the Ministry of Science. Not a sight you see every day.

Cora and Zane positioned themselves behind the door, in the perfect position that they can see inside but remain unseen. Astro entered through the window, hanging on to the ledge and climbing in so the sound of his rockets aren't heard. Thankfully the window was wide open, so Astro didn't have to go through the trouble of opening and closing the window, and make a fast escape.

Astro climbed up and got in, tiptoeing across the room over to his dad's bed. It was dark, so Astro couldn't see anything besides the things illuminated by the light from the window. However, Astro knew his dad's room was filled with blueprints, robots, and other stuff for the Ministry, so he has to watch his step.

Slowly across the room, quietly and steady, Astro went. Twice he narrowly avoided stepping on a drone or robot... and he tells ASTRO to clean HIS room, riiiight.

Astro got beside his dad's bed, and pulled his cap down over his head before he got his fingers into a flicking position beside his dad's nose. There were a lot of things going on in Astro's mind:

I don't want to flick dad too hard I can't use my powers against him I mean, he gave me my powers right, how did I ever agree to do this this is bad, very bad if I get caught I'm so in trouble oh my gosh what if I do get caught I might be grounded for life or something like that but I've never gotten dad mad enough to do that to me I don't know what I'm thinking kay, I'm not backing out from a dare, I'm not backing out from a dare, I'm not backing out from a dare, I'm not backing out from a dare, I'm not backing out from a dare...

FLICK.

Astro did it. Soft enough to be mistaken for TOUCHING his dad's nose but he did it. He ran out the window and jumped like his life depended on it, cuz it most probably did, and outside the door, Cora and Zane also bolted.

They met on the balcony. Astro said, "Don't scream" and without hesitating, pushed his friends off the edge. They wanted to scream, as it was a pretty high drop, but were stopped by the fact that if they do scream, Dr. Tenma will discover them. Also, they had Astro.

Sure enough, Astro was falling close to his friends. He held both his friends' hands and they all kept falling until they were about two storeys off the ground. With a blast of fire, Astro caught all three and slowed them down, landing safely.

The three friends leaned against the wall of the large building they just fell down from, catching their breath. Once they did, they all laughed.

"That was fun." Zane said.

"Fun for you. I just grounded myself for a few weeks!" Astro said.

"Oh, cheer up, Astro, it was worth it." Cora said. The three walked towards the edge of the city. It was going to be a long walk, but it's fine.

The three talked about their own random things until about an hour passed and they reached the edge of the city at around 12. With Astro's help, they flew the rest of the way to Hamegg's.

The three got to Hamegg's half an hour later and they played more games until two, then went to sleep.

TIME SKIP

"Have you seen my cap?" Astro yelled across Hamegg's place. It was 8 in the morning, but kids were already having a blast. Astro was packing to leave.

"Is it blue?" Zane asked.

"Yeah..." Astro replied, hopeful.

"Does it say Ministry of Science on it?"

"Yeah..." Astro was pretty sure Zane had seen it at some point of time. If he hasn't then why is he describing –

"Never seen it."

"What the heck, Zane?" Astro was pretty much ready to beat Zane up as Zane laughed.

"It might have fallen off when you were flying during the dare yesterday." Cora suggested.

"Probably." Astro said, jumping on Zane and pinning him to the ground face down.

"Boys." Cora said, clearly trying to get them to stop their childish behavior. Unfortunately it didn't have any effect on them as Astro took off Zane's jacket and used it as rope to tie Zane's hands together with the sleeves behind his back.

Astro got off of Zane and brushed off his hands as Cora stared at Zane.

"That's... not even possible." Cora said, dumbfounded by the speed at which Astro tied Zane up with a JACKET... who knew? Some kids spotted Zane hopping around, got some rope, and had fun tying Zane up even tighter, leaving not just his hands, but his entire arms unable to move. Once the kids were done, Astro gave each one a high five, congratulating them on a job well done, which made Zane furious but he couldn't do anything about it.

With a wave goodbye, Astro zoomed off towards Metro City with his stuff, leaving Cora to deal with tied up Zane.

Astro went through the balcony, as usual, since he couldn't be bothered with using the door. However as soon as he went through the opening into the house, Astro felt something shock both his legs at the same time.

"Ow!" Astro yelled as he jumped up in surprise. Wait, what? Shock only his legs... weird. Astro brushed it off as nothing as he went to his room.

"I'm back, dad!" Astro called out, signaling to his dad that he was back home.

"Hi, son, did you have fun?" Dr. Tenma asked.

"Totally! Cora, Zane and I played a whole lot of games until late in the night!" Astro recalled enthusiastically. Dr. Tenma nodded in reply.

Astro ran to his room. Hopefully his dad didn't figure out Astro touched him at night, so far it didn't seem like it. Astro was putting away his clothes when he suddenly felt very dizzy. Astro flopped onto bed and blacked out before he knew it.

TIME SKIP

Astro woke up at about noon, accompanied with his feet feeling as heavy as concrete with a side of a major headache.

Astro groaned as he got out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

"Dad, is lunch ready?" Astro asked as he spotted his dad. Orrin overheard them.

"Lunch will be ready in a few minutes, Astro!" Orrin called from the kitchen. Astro smiled. He had told Orrin to call him 'Astro' and not 'Master Astro' since it was a bit weird. A robot calling another robot 'Master'… yeah... awkward.

Astro sat at the table and put his head down. Lunch got to the table, pasta! Not bad. Astro ate his lunch. As a side note, Astro can't use the bathroom like humans, which should be obvious. Instead, when he eats food, it goes through a process where the nutrients in the food go into Astro's electronic brain as extra energy and to help him function smoother. Kind of like a machine that already works but you put in lubricant to make it work better... but the nutrients aren't a substitute for lubricant. The rest of the food goes to Astro's rockets to be burned as extra fuel. Notice the word 'extra'. Astro doesn't HAVE to eat, it only helps if he DOES.

After Astro finished his lunch he figured he'd go fly to clear out his head. Astro went to the balcony, and jumped up activating his – wait.

Astro's feet landed back on the ground. Huh? Let's try that again. Astro jumped, trying to activate his rockets, but nothing happened. Astro looked down as his boots, which were sparking. Astro sighed in defeat, and went over to the couch and sat down. He couldn't go anywhere without people swarming him, as it had been a very short time since he had saved the city. The only place he could get some peace was where people couldn't go, but robots and machines could. The sky. Now that Astro couldn't fly, he was stuck at home. Great.

Little did Astro know that there was someone watching him from behind, smiling at his plan working smoothly.

Astro called Cora and Zane with his slight problem, and asked if they were free. Cora replied that other than Zane trying to deal with the kids that were still making fun of him for getting tied up, they were pretty much free the whole day. They came to keep Astro company and the three played games for a few hours on Astro's bed.

"So wait, you came into the house, something zapped your boots, then you felt sick, you took a nap, and now whenever you try to fly, your boots spark with electricity?" Zane summed up.

"That's pretty much it." Astro said, poking his Monopoly piece across the board 5 spaces.

"Well, show us." Cora suggested. In response to that, Astro came out of his crisscrossed sitting position moved his legs so they were in full view. He tried to get them to light with fire like he does almost every day, and the only thing that he got in response was his boots sparking with electricity.

"Nothing." Astro said.

"Try harder.", Zane urged. Astro tried to light his rockets again, only to come up with nothing. He tried harder and the sparks grew even stronger, one hitting a spot near Zane by accident.

"Ah!" Zane yelled out of surprise, staring at the spot on the bed that the stray spark had hit. Astro immediately stopped.

"Zane, I'm sorry!" Astro said, distressed that his friend nearly got hurt because of him.

"It's fine, really," Zane said, but Astro, being Astro, said, "Yeah, I'm not trying that again." in sadness.

His friends sighed, mostly in sympathy. Astro loved flying through the Metro City sky, free to go anywhere, to do anything. The sky is quite literally the limit, but now, it's like his freedom was taken away from him, a whole part of Astro missing. Gone. Not a trace. And something like freedom is not forgotten or gotten over easily.

The three continued playing monopoly, Astro not daring to try and activate his rockets again in fear of actually hurting someone this time. It was pure luck that the bed had not caught fire.

Not long later, it was time for snack, and little did Astro know he had a few things coming for him.

Dr. Tenma called the kids to get some snack, some bread with strawberry jam, Astro's favorite, with juice. The three sat at the table, and Orrin could be seen neatly spreading jam on some pieces of bread. Astro watched, too dizzy to actually reply to what Cora and Zane were saying, but still listening to the conversation.

Orrin spread jam on six pieces of bread from the same jar, and put the bread together in twos, so there were three, one for each, Cora, Zane, and Astro. Each piece of bread was cut into triangles before it was given to the three.

Astro stared at his food while his friends dug in.

"This is so good!" Cora said, her mouth still partly filled with food.

"How does jam this good exist? It's not even real!" Zane added.

Astro smiled. That's why he liked strawberry jam. He lifted his head off the table and took his bread from his plate. Astro took a bite, but a very weird, unexpected taste filled his mouth and he felt the urge to spit it out a second later.

Astro gagged before he said, "Ew! What happened to this jam?!" Cora and Zane looked at Astro in alarm, and then frowned.

"What's wrong with the jam?" Cora asked as Astro forcefully swallowed the bite of food.

"It tastes like someone took tomatoes and put it in here!" Astro said, swallowing some juice to help wash down the taste, but even that tasted off.

"But Astro, it tastes fine..." Zane said," Orrin spread the jam on all our bread in front of us, there's no way it could be different." Cora agreed. Astro pushed his plate back.

"I'm not hungry anymore," Astro said, and out his head down on the table again. Cora and Zane looked at him in worry before they continued talking and eating their food.

TIME SKIP

After the three were done eating, well technically two, but still, they headed to Astro's room, Cora and Zane almost having to drag Astro off the seat. Turns out Astro's pretty light, he only weighs about three quarters of what Zane and Cora do.

Astro's head started feeling a bit better. Another nap and Astro was sure he'd be fine, and hopefully his rockets as well. Confined in a house is not fun, even if it's your own.

The three reached Astro's room, and Cora opened the door. Astro was looking at his boots, but when he looked into the room...

Astro froze in fear. There were cockroaches, filthy cockroaches, lining the walls, the floor, Astro's table, bed, everything! It was infestation of cockroaches! Astro backed up, bewildered why his friends aren't freaking out but instead walking right through the bugs like they weren't even there.

"-tro? Astro? Come on, why aren't you coming?" Astro heard Zane say as he zoned back into his friends' voices. Cockroaches were crawling up their legs now, climbing up Astro's friends... the world started swimming before Astro's eyes, turning into a distorted image of itself.

"Are you okay?" Cora asked as she came closer.

"No – NO! Stay away from me!" Astro yelled as he backed up from his friends, raising his arm to fire up his cannons, but it worked for hardly a second before it turned back into his hand. Astro was getting dizzier and dizzier. He looked down. Cockroaches were crawling up his robotic boots, Astro's hearing was overwhelmed by the sounds of those cockroaches, the scurrying of the tiny feet as they went up Astro's legs... and the next thing he saw was black.

TIME SKIP

Astro awoke to someone shaking him back and forth.

"NOt hElpINg! Astro said as Zane shook him.

"Oh good you're awake." Zane said.

"We were worried, Astro." Cora stated.

"What hit me?" Astro asked as he got a better look of his surroundings. He was on his bed, Cora and Zane sitting there too.

Cora and Zane looked at each other before Cora replied, "Astro, we were walking to your room when you freaked all of a sudden. You looked terrified, and told Zane and I to not get close to you."

"I don't know what happened myself, it was all a blur. Last thing I remember was walking to the room, seeing a whole lot of cockroaches inside, then I can't remember anything that happened after that." Astro said, "I'm sorry for saying what I did."

Cora and Zane immediately replied, Cora saying, "You didn't know what you were saying, it's not your fault!" And Zane adding, "It's fine, no need to say sorry for something you didn't do!" Astro nodded, but curled up into a ball and stared at his boots. First his rockets, then the food, now this... what was going on?!

"Cockroaches you say?" Zane asked, "Burn the house down, that'll get rid of 'em."

Cora responded to Zane by elbowing him hard in the ribs.

"Ow! Cora!" Zane exclaimed. Cora smiled.

Time passed, and Astro was having more and more of these odd things happen to him with no explanation. Obviously a robot designed after humans, Astro started feeling hungry later, and settled on eating some cereal, even though it was lunch time, and Cora and Zane were having noodles. Astro just didn't feel like eating anything else, and everyone knows what happens when he makes up his mind.

Astro opened a new milk carton after checking the expiry and poured it into the bowl of cereal, and tried to eat it, but the milk was sour, and was on the verge of spitting it out. He double checked the expiry, two months from the current date.

Astro settled on some Oreos, but found out the sweet cream had been replaced by tooth paste. Astro actually did spit this one out. Astro sighed in defeat and gave up on trying to eat anything again.

"Milk sour?" Zane asked, "Burn down the bowl - OW! Cora, what the heck?" Cora had elbowed Zane again, Zane frowned, and Astro cracked a smile. Cora counted it as a victory.

Nothing happened until it was time for dinner, which Astro and his friends were grateful for, and they actually played some games. Cora and Zane were getting really worried for Astro, and had told him to tell Dr. Tenma, but Astro refused, and said that hopefully by morning it would get better. Cora and Zane had decided they would stay at Astro's place for the night, and had checked with Dr. Tenma as well, who approved.

Astro was going to sit on one of the chairs, but it collapsed as soon as Astro tried sitting on one. Cora and Zane helped him up, but even they were confused. Astro wasn't heavy, so why? Astro picked another chair and sat down, and he went from looking hopeful that he was okay, to being depressed again faster than you could say the word.

When they brushed their teeth for the night after dinner ( where Astro didn't even touch any of the food ) Astro squirted out some toothpaste on his brush then passed it to Cora and Zane, who did the same. Weirdly, Astro's toothpaste tasted like Oreo cream, and Cora and Zane's didn't, to which Zane said, "Weird tasting toothpaste, eh? Burn down – Ow! Cora, I'm not even joking, that is IT." Cora had elbowed Zane yet again, and Astro didn't just smile this time, he laughed, saying, "I don't want to burn down anything, Zane!"

Then after the events of the day, the three sat on Astro's bed and were talking, well, Astro was.

"So my rockets don't work, nor does my sense of taste, I'm seeing things, I'm breaking things, I recently found out my blasters don't work either, I think I'm either damaged or breaking down." Astro stated sadly.

"No you're not, try not to be so rediculis." Zane said matter of factly.

"Ridiculous, Zane." Cora rolled her eyes.

"Hey, don't you roll your eyes at me!" Zane warned. Astro smiled in amusement as the both fought over seemingly nothing. The three slept on the same bed, as Astro's bed really is huge ( perks of having a rich father ), and the night was peaceful.

TIME SKIP

Astro woke in the morning to Cora calling his name.

"Astro! Wake up, it's the morning!" Cora told Astro. Zane was interviewing Orrin in the same room, and Astro heard their voices too.

Astro groaned and got up, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and looked around. The room fell silent.

"Hey, is someone going to turn on the lights? I can't see a thing." Astro said from his position on the bed.

"Astro... the lights are on." Cora said.

"And so are yours..." Zane said. He sounded freaked out. What was happening?

Cora took a flashlight from Astro's desk and shined it in his electric blue eyes, holding three fingers in between his eyes and the flashlight.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Cora asked, her voice controlled and quieter than usual. Astro could sense tension in the room.

"For the last time, Cora, turn on the lights if you want me to see anything." Astro said calmly, as if this was an everyday thing.

"Astro, I don't think you CAN see." Zane stated as Cora turned off the flashlight.

Astro panicked. He was blind? He was BLIND?! No way. This can't be happening. The next few minutes were spent in taking Astro to Dr. Tenma and explaining the situation. To their surprise, Dr. Tenma smiled knowingly.

Dr. Tenma pulled out a device from his pocket, not larger than a phone, looked a bit like a portable hard drive. Dr. Tenma touched the device to Astro's head, and the most miraculous thing happened.

All at once, Astro's vision returned, his feet didn't feel like they were made of concrete anymore, the headache went away, everything, back to normal in the blink of an eye. Astro's now chocolate brown eyes shot open, surprised at what just happened.

"Wait. I was – you just – but... what?" Astro stammered, unable to come up with a conclusion to why he was better all of a sudden while his friends hugged him tight, happy to have a not-depressed and brown eyed Astro back.

"Did you forget something during the sleepover?" Dr. Tenma asked. Astro looked at him in confusion before Dr. Tenma pulled out a familiar electric blue cap that said "Ministry of Science" on it.

Realization hit all three friends. When Astro was in his dad's room, he must have dropped the hat in the rush to get the heck outta that place. Astro smiled nervously as he took the hat back.

"So all the stuff that happened to me, it was you?" Astro asked. Seeing his friend's faces, they were clearly thinking the same thing.

"Yup. All me." Tenma replied, "Back in the day, when people bullied me for being a nerd, I got them back revenge through pranks. My second name in middle school was PranksterGangster, I'll have you know."

Astro and his friends gaped at Dr. Tenma, who was standing there proudly. Then, out of nowhere, Astro felt the urge to try his rockets. They have GOT to work now. Astro ran towards the balcony with no warning, and fired up his rockets before he was even fully outside. They blasted at full speed and Astro shot out into the air, feeling freedom once again.

After an entire minute, Zane said, "Yeah, he's not coming back anytime soon."

"And nor are we." Cora said before she and Zane ran out the house, leaving Dr. Tenma alone in the living room. The prank and payback were so worth it.

THE END

* * *

And that's done! I feel good... it's satisfying to make someone happy, try it sometimes for the small population of you that haven't, you know who you are! XD


	5. Christmas is Here!

Very Merry Christmas to you all!

Astro: You're a week late for Christmas, don't you think?

Cap'nJS: Oh shut it, i don't need your opinion right now.

Anyway, here's this thing for everyone, thank you to PancakeStudios for MOTIVATION. It really helped... this story takes place in the Five years into the Future timeline, as i like to call it. the one where Astro grew up, got a sister, Rin married Tenma, you get it. for more information read the START of the third chapter, the rest of it is embarrassing to admit I was the one who wrote that trash.

* * *

"Take care of Zoran, okay Astro?" Dr. Tenma called from the front door. It was 2 in the afternoon on December 24th and Astro and Zoran's parents had to go out, not telling Astro or Zoran what exactly they were DOING while they were "out", but it's not like the little girl and the teenage robot cared.

"Sure, dad." Astro replied, trying to get a stubborn Zoran out of his room. Dr. Tenma and Rin left, hand in hand, and shut the door behind them.

"Okay, Zoran, for the last time, you're not going to get my weapons, I put a fingerprint lock on them." Astro said, annoyed. After what happened last time with Zoran taking his weapons to try and fight Atlas, Astro put a fingerprint lock on the mechanism that opens the secret compartment in his desk where he keeps his weapons, and only Cora, Zane, and his fingerprints can open it. Zoran however, let curiosity get the better of her and wants to see and try the weapons again, temporarily forgetting what that did to her own brother last time... oh WAIT. Astro got an idea.

"Remember what happened to me last time you stole my weapons?" Astro said, holding high hopes for this sentence. Gladly, it worked.

"Oh yeah... sorry." Zoran apologized in a small voice, giving up on trying to get to the weapons. Astro smiled. How could he ever say no to that adorable face? In one swoop, Astro picked up his little sister, who giggled with delight, and put her on his shoulders. Zoran loved it, and started playing with Astro's spikes, babbling incoherently.

Astro went to the living room and said, "Okay, Zoran, wanna do something fun?"

"YEAH!" Zoran said, throwing her hands up in the air in happiness, but as a result nearly falling off of Astro's shoulders. Astro caught her of course, laughing.

"Okay, we're going to surprise Mom n' Dad when they get home, okay?"

"Let's make a cake!"

"BAKE a cake, Zoran. And you don't bake cakes on Christmas... if anything, you bake pies. You see, traditional Christmas dinner usually has turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. For DESSERT you have pumpkin or apple pie, raisin pudding, Christmas pudding, or fruitcake."

"So we make a fruity cake?" Zoran asked as she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"No." Astro said, facepalming. Zoran stared up at her brother.

"Oh fine, we'll make a cake."

"BAKE a cake, brother."

"Oh that's it!" Astro said as he chased his laughing little sister around the house.

Sometime later, Astro could be found in the kitchen of the house gathering ingredients for a cake, while Zoran was picking ornaments to put on the tree from a box Astro had put out for her.

"Astro!" Zoran called from the living room.

"Yeah?" Astro said.

"Why aren't there any pink sparkly thingies?" Astro sighed. Little girls, eh?

"Zoran, Christmas colors are red and green. You don't usually find pink ornaments."

"But I want one." Zoran complained. Astro sighed. He really couldn't argue with this adorable little kid. Astro stepped outside the kitchen.

"Tell you what, I'll get some red and white paint, mix them together and you get pink. Then you can paint the old ornaments pink and add sparkles if you want." Astro said as he went into the storeroom to get the paint and sparkles. Zoran cheered and put all the red ornaments she took out back into the box.

Pretty soon Zoran was busy painting ornaments that weren't being used anymore a light pink and Astro was back in the kitchen. Once Astro had gotten everything and came out, Zoran had messily painted four ornaments pink and added glitter unevenly on all of them... but it her eyes it was a masterpiece. Currently she was busy painting a faded red ornament with blobs of different colored paint, her tongue stuck out in concentration.

"What're you doing?" Astro asked as he watched Zoran paint... whatever she was painting.

"I'm painting our family!" Zoran said happily. Astro cocked his head to the side... that was a family?

"Umm... who's who?" Astro asked.

"This one is daddy," Zoran said, pointing at a blob of white paint with a line of black on top, "This one's mommy," what appeared to be a lemon yellow jellybean, "This one's me," what looked like a wiggly pink triangle, "And this one's the best... it's you!" Zoran shoved the ornament in Astro's face, and Astro had to back up to get a clear view. He was looking at... a blue square on top of a black one, with what looked like a yellow and orange circle coming out the bottom... probably Astro and his rockets.

"You're going to make a fine artist one day." Astro praised, even though it wasn't entirely true. However it made Zoran smile so wide Astro was sure her face would break... it didn't. "Get in the kitchen and wash your hands, I'll hang these up to dry." Astro said as he took the ornament from Zoran's hand and got some string from the box.

TIME SKIP

The ornaments are hanging from a stick balanced between two chairs, and Astro and Zoran are in the kitchen, getting ready to BAKE a cake.

"What do we do first?" Zoran asked, standing on a stool so she could come to just below Astro's height. Zoran was wearing an apron that was probably ten sizes too big... as it's Rin's. Astro didn't bother wearing an apron, but that was going to prove to be a pretty big mistake.

"Okay, get the butter and the sugar. First, we..."

The pair got baking, Astro telling Zoran what to do, Zoran trying to do it, making a mess of things, then the process repeats.

"Zoran, you don't add all the sugar!" Zoran looks up at her brother innocently. "What? I like it when it's sweet."

"Here, pour the flour in." Astro hands Zoran a cup of flour, but Zoran dumps it from too far above the bowl. Flour flies everywhere except inside the bowl. "It didn't go in, Astro." "Well, that's obvious."

"Astro, do chickens come out of these eggs?" "No, Zoran, the chicken has to sit on the eggs, or it doesn't work." "I wanna chicken."

"Don't touch the mixer, Zoran." VROOOOOMMMM "I SAID NOT TO TOUCH IT!" "Oops."

"We have to peeheat the oven before we put the cake in." "PREheat, Zoran." "Peeheat." "Preheat." "Peeheat." "say PRE," "Pre?" "Heat." "Heat." "Put it together..." "Peeheat." *sigh*

"We have to fill the pan halfway." "Why?" "Because if you filled the pan, when the batter rises, it'll overflow and get really messy." *Zoran cocks head to the side in confusion*

"I wanna put the icing on!" "Zoran, WAIT! The tube's too full, it'll - " *pop* "Astro! The icing came on my hands! I taste yummy now." " - explode."

And so, the result was ONE really messy and oversweet cake, ONE adorable little girl who looked like nothing happened to her, ONE flour covered robot, and to top it all off the kitchen looked like a hurricane just blew past.

"How am I supposed to clean this up by the time mum n' dad come back?" Astro complained, as Zoran admired her now dry ornaments. Then an idea hit Astro...

Dance Party.

The next thing you know, a teenage robot and a young girl are dancing in the kitchen, covered with bubbles, sponges in hand, two buckets of water on the floor, scrubbing to the beat. Once they were done the pair admired their work, the kitchen looked so clean it was like it was brand new.

"Okay, now we're done this, let's decorate the tree." Astro stated.

"Yeah!" Zoran agreed, as she carried the sponges and Astro carried the buckets to the washroom, where the soapy water was dumped out and the sponges washed.

Then Zoran picked out some of the newer ornaments she wanted to put on the tree as Astro found an old pop up christmas tree and assembled it.

"Astro?" Zoran asked, getting her brother's attention.

"Yeah?" Astro said absentmindedly as he put the tree on a stand.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Umm... whats yours?"

"Pink and red." Zoran answered confidently.

"Well, mine's blue and red." Astro answered without thinking about it too much.

"Really? Is that why your sweater's blue?" Zoran asked picking out another ornament which had two bells on it. Astro glanced down at his sweater. He picked it himself 6 years ago, and when it got damaged and worn out he had a copy made in a larger size.

"Yeah, you got it." Astro said. Zoran smiled and fished around in the box for some blue ornaments.

Astro finished assembling the tree and backed up to get a good look at it. The thing was huge, hard to believe it was crammed into a pack as thin as the length of his hand. The tree was bushy from a distance, but if you looked at it closely, you could tell it was completely hollow from the inside. There was a gap of about a foot between the top of the tree and the ceiling, just enough to put a star on the top and have some space to spare.

"Whoa..." Zoran said as she stared at the tree, dropping the light blue ornament in her hand without realizing it.

"Like it?" Astro asked. Zoran nodded her head as she continued staring at the tree. Then she shook her head and said, "Astro, I found a blue one for you!" And held out her hand... which was empty. Zoran looked at her hand in confusion then looked around, her face lighting up when she found her prize. "It's blue!" Zoran said as she held out the light blue ornament from earlier out to Astro. Astro laughed, "Yeah it is, I really like it. Wanna put it up?"

So Zoran and Astro put up the ornaments one by one. The ones Zoran had painted pink, the family ornament ( paint blob family... but Astro wasn't going to tell his sister that, not after that happy expression on her face when Astro put it on the top of the tree ), and the newer ones Zoran picked out.

Astro was holding Zoran up as she placed the star on the tippy top of the tree just as their parents walked in.

"Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christ- huh?" Said a santa that just walked through the door carrying a tree of his own.

"Daddy, how did you get so fat so fast?" Zoran said from her spot. Astro heard a laugh. His mom. So that's why they went 'out'... huh.

"Looks like Zoran saw through the pillow, didn't she?" Rin said as she walked in with a bag of ornaments. Then Rin stopped in her tracks, eyeing the Christmas tree that Astro and Zoran had already put up.

"We're going to have two Christmas trees this year it seems. Anything else you kids did you want to tell me about?" Rin asked. Zoran finished putting the star on the top of the tree before she said, "We made a cake for you and dad!"

"Yeah, you might find a missing icing cone too." Astro said, referring to the one Zoran made explode all over her hands, as he lowered Zoran to the ground. Zoran ran up to her dad as soon as her tiny feet were on the ground and she poked at the big belly.

"It's a pillow, Astro!" Zoran said, making Astro and Rin laugh, and Dr. Tenma groan at the failed disguise.

"Yeah, might wanna try better next year." Astro said through his laughter as Zoran pulled the fake beard right off.

That Christmas, as Rin said, was a year of two Christmas trees, both of them in the living room to admire, one a present from the kids to the parents, the other a present from the parents to the kids. Obviously the parents' tree looked much better, since they had an actual tree and ornaments that were so shiny you could see your reflection in them, but you have to admit, it is impressive what a teenager and a four year old kid can do with a load of junl they found in the back storage room.

The cake was, obviously, very sweet... but Astro, Zoran, and Rin all loved sweet things, so the only one who had to be force fed the cake ( by Rin ) was Dr. Tenma. And when Zoran asked if he liked the cake Dr. Tenma also had to say the cake was good or else those big eyes on that small girl would start crying a waterfall only Astro could deal with. Yeah, nobody wants that.

Bottom line: awesome Christmas

* * *

So halfway through the WiFi stopped working, so my Onedrive stopped detecting spelling mistakes... so there may be... some.

The last few stories are really raising my average for how many words are in each story, but that's probably cuz i went from a few hundred to thousands in like, two chapters.

One of my upcoming stories is going to be something along the lines of the whole of Metro City's robots getting controlled by someone, making them all go crazy. Astro's core stops the connection a few times, but in the end Astro is also a robot, which makes him fall victim to the control too. then the story goes on from there. half of it is done, but I still have to finish it. if it goes more than 10 000 words i'll split it into separate chapters and it won't be in this oneshot series but instead a story of it's own. have fun until then, and Happy Holidays!


	6. Control Trailer

Loved readers I bring you this gift... a last story before I truly am sucked into the never ending oblivion known as the EXAMS. Wish me luck! This is a trailer for one of my upcoming chapters, maybe the next one or the one after that. But whatever it is... here we GO!

* * *

Cora and Zane walked through destruction and bitter cold through the streets of Metro City.

It had been more than a week since the attacks started... red eyed robots bent on destroying anything within their sights that moved. And it had just been a week since Astro, the most powerful robot in Metro City, but more importantly a friend, was shut down. The two were on their way to see him now.

The attacks had started one fine day and simply escalated within a few hours. With Astro's help, the attacks were kept in check, and nobody got hurt. Then, Astro lost control. Cora and Zane would never forget the mad look in his eyes as Astro turned to face in their direction, cannon charged... not hesitating to shoot. Afternoon the next day, Astro was shut down.

Without Astro to help, the attacks got worse. First it was just waiters and housebots. Then more powerful robots, construction and military were affected. By now, half the city was level with the ground, and even with helicopters and police deployed everywhere, they can't keep up with how frequent the attacks are getting. More people areturning up with injuries every day, and so far there were also quite a few deaths.

Cora and Zane walked into the Ministry of Science, sighing as the warmth inside the ministry hit their faces. They looked around. The place was deserted, like it had usually been in the past few days. The only person there was a woman sitting at the front desk, who didn't even have to glance up to know it was them. They visited the same time every day.

The two walked into a section of the Ministry dedicated to showcasing the Ministry's achievements. Kind of like a museum... but for robots. Lying there inside a glass case, was Astro, serving as the centerpiece. Cora and Zane walked up to the unconscious form of their friend, still wearing his favorite outfit, and hair still styled in their usual spikes. How they wished so badly to see Astro's smile, to hear Astro's voice.

The Core was in a separate glass case right beside Astro's, spinning silently, and lighting up the room with a soft blue glow. Astro's heart and soul. They took Astro's heart and soul right out of his chest and out them both in separate glass cases. How dare they. But it's not like the two teens could do anything about it. Astro was here to stay for the time being, and wouldn't be out anytime soon.

Astro could HELP. So what if he went evil and destroyed a building? Deactivating him destroyed many more buildings and lives than that. Cora and Zane sadly walked back outside the Ministry to brave the weather and get to their houses.

If only they'd understand.

* * *

It's like, 1 in the night. My head hurts... a result of staying awake longer than 12. Yeah I think I should sleep now. Tell me what you think.


End file.
